FOXCONN and Intel green team-up

FOXCONN and Intel Corporation held a joint Forum event where they briefed IT media and key channel customers about the latest performance and energy-efficient solutions developed by the two companies.

FOXCONN's Chief Technical Officer, AJ Chuang, delivered a keynote presentation on the innovative concept systems. Essentially they will target two main channels, using two development streams. The "F1" concept will cater for high-end enthusiasts with what I would consider the power hungry channel, and the "G1" stream is geared towards green issues and the environment.

Using a demonstration from FOXCONN's F1 concept system, they introduced several new technologies for the performance sector as the company prepares to expand the Quantum Force enthusiast product segment. The F1 concept system was the first to demonstrate otophone gaming on a new mainstream Intel chipset - supporting up to 4 graphics cards driving 8 monitors. The motherboard inside the F1 system also debuts a new method of Northbridge (NB) cooling which uses a unique thermo-electric system to dramatically reduce temperatures, whilst an integrated water block assembly allows water cooling of the NB, SB & VRM areas with easy connections to a pump mounted inside or outside the chassis.

The second channel FOXCONN are targeting is the "G1" which heralds a new era in energy-efficient computing solutions by providing special power saving technologies that through unique power usage states can save power immediately. At the press conference, FOXCONN claimed a typical home PC equipped with the new technology could deliver energy savings of around 85%. The technology inside G1 will be launched into the market as a series of motherboards and bare bone computer solutions later this year, forming the company's new green series product segment.

Intel's Richard Malinowski, Vice President (Mobility Group) & General Manager (Client Components Group), delivered an Intel keynote focusing on the company's efforts to completely remove lead from its record-breaking 45nm processors, and also unveiled some of the new features of forthcoming Intel chipsets, which form the basis of FOXCONN's new energy-efficient and performance solutions. It might be interesting to note that companies like FOXCONN manufacture Intel's boards on a contractual basis. Is this the beginning of a closer relationship?